Tenant recounts narrow escape from burning three-decker in Fitchburg

Robert R. Parks, 24, said he felt as if he was going to be killed by the heat-filled air inside his third-floor apartment and then his thoughts turned to the window.

Heat and flames moved quickly through the second and third floors during the three-alarm fire at the three-decker where he lived at 133 Mechanic St. early this morning, fire officials said. The fire displaced Mr. Parks and seven others, including two children.

Mr. Parks said that when his alarm clock woke him at 5 a.m. and he smelled smoke and heard people yelling, he quickly put “two and two together.”

“I put on my pants and grabbed my guitar and tried running downstairs, but I was hit by hot air — you can get burned from just the air,” Mr. Parks said while standing outside the home, with his hands bandaged. He has second-degree burns on his hands and blisters on his face.

Mr. Parks said he saw smoke and an orange glow and felt excruciating pain from the burns. He ran back to his apartment.

“I was thinking, 'I could die here right now,' ” he said. “And then I thought to jump out the window.”

Mr. Parks ran to the window, hung onto the sill and tried to lower himself to a railing on the outside of the building, but he lost his footing and fell three floors to the ground and hit another railing that gouged a chunk of flesh out of his chin and bruised his chest.

Hours later, looking at the burned home he was able to escape, he said he felt scared.

“I don't remember a single thought — just it hurts and jumping,” he said. “It is not the same as in the movies, where they say you have to worry about the smoke. The heat fills the air and is super-heated and can cook you.”

A guitarist and graphics art student, who also works in sales and at Market Basket in Leominster, Mr. Parks lost his laptop in the blaze and also his first music demo, which he had just completed. He said he plans to stay with friends in Athol and is glad he was the only one who was hurt. His concern, he said, was for the two children who live on the second floor.

Their uncle, Miguel Hernandez, lived with his girlfriend on the first floor and tried to put the fire out with a small fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived. The fire alarms woke him up, he said. Though there was no fire inside his apartment, Mr. Hernandez said that when he opened the door to the hall, the whole ceiling was on fire.

“My sister and her kids live on the second floor,” Mr. Hernandez said. “I was worried about the little kids, and then I saw Matthew (his nephew) run through the hall and get out.”

His sister Tali Nareo, her husband, Jose Nareo, and children, Michael Nareo, 5, and Matthew Nareo, 9, all made it out safely with the other tenants in the building, but lost everything. Only items on the first floor were salvageable, some of the tenants said.

This afternoon, Christopher A. Thibault, of Ashburnham, who works with both Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Nareo at Randy's Automotive in Fitchburg, was helping Mr. Hernandez remove some of his belongings from the apartment.

“They are always in (work) before I am, so I knew something was wrong,” Mr. Thibault said. “It is awful to lose everything, especially this time of year.”

He said today's fire and the one in Leominster less than a week ago has him worried.“I have two kids,” Mr. Thibault said. “I've been talking to them, telling them to be careful with fire. It spreads so quickly.”

Fitchburg Fire Lt. Sally A. Tata said all of the alarms in the home were functioning properly and alerted tenants.

She said the amount of damage has hindered investigators seeking the cause of the blaze. “We can't conclusively say what caused it,” she said.

Fire Chief Kevin D. Roy said the call came in about 5:20 a.m. and when firefighters arrived there was heavy fire on the second and third floors. Mr. Parks had already jumped before they got there, he said.

Chief Roy said firefighters searched the building after receiving a report a tenant was still up on the third floor, but did not find anyone.

The fire blew out all the windows and part of the roof collapsed, crushing three cars near the house, he said.